“For more than five years, President Bush has refused to veto one single piece of legislation while he and Congressional Republicans have created the five largest deficits in history. His call today for the power of line-item veto should be seen for what it is: a continuing attempt to play shell games with the American people when it comes to fiscal responsibility.

“Giving the President an absolute line-item veto could undermine the independence of the Legislative Branch of government – an independence which Republicans have largely been unwilling to assert. There is a far more telling request by the Administration regarding the country’s fiscal standing than President Bush’s line-item veto request today: Treasury Secretary John Snow’s request that Congress raise the debt limit by mid-March.

“Republicans cannot run from the red ink they have used to write the country’s budgets while in control of both Congress and the White House. The historic fiscal turnaround that has occurred during the Bush Administration, leading the country from record surpluses to record deficits, has undermined our national priorities and will leave future generations of Americans saddled with Republican debt.”